


Upon the Creation of Horcruxes and the Restoration of Life, Sanity, and Soul of Lord Voldemort

by Jacinta



Series: Harry's Essays [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Essays, Gen, Horcruxes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22221898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jacinta/pseuds/Jacinta
Summary: An essay written by the Harry Potter to share with future Dark Idiots what he learned in the process of saving Tom Riddle from himself.
Series: Harry's Essays [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599589
Kudos: 5





	Upon the Creation of Horcruxes and the Restoration of Life, Sanity, and Soul of Lord Voldemort

**Author's Note:**

> These are just fun little pieces I write while trying to get my head around the particulars of a very complex plot with many layers and at least three distinct arcs that I'm writing alltogether. So I apologise if it lacks a certain amount of context but I think it should be fine, the series goes wildly beyond can be inferred by canon, but shouldn't contradict it at any point if anyone would like more. Oh and please correct me if my maths is wrong at any point.

  
To make a horcrux one typically sacrifices the life of someone blood related to them or of emotional importance, this splits the soul in half and stores that half in an object, usually inanimate. This is why more than one horcrux is rare and more than three is unheard of, magic becomes unstable and drives the numbskull who created four horcruxes absolutely insane and usually to the destruction of their other ‘immortality devices’. 

  
I have been unable to find records of power levels for those with horcruxes though from anecdotal evidence I can surmise a little. Many make their first horcrux before their final magical growth spurt at the age of majority, there are notes that these mages did not seem to experience this growth spurt as usual, suggesting that the power loss of one horcrux is approximately equal to the witch or wizard’s final growth spurt. It is difficult to tell if this single division of the soul causes mental or magical instability as the transition to adulthood and freedom from teachers, parents, and other guardians could also cause this.

  
In the few recorded cases of a horcrux first made by an adult they have either negated the effects with a series of Dark rituals to increase their power or were too insane to quantify or even notice a loss of power. Without access to further records of _which_ rituals were used there is nothing more to contribute though I would assume the power loss would be approximately equal to their final growth spurt.

The second division of the soul is much more traumatic. In all the records I could find there is no mention of a second division being managed before the final growth spurt which at least gives us a better estimate of power levels. This horcrux would leave the caster with only a quarter of their soul, and take anywhere from an eighth to a full quarter of power from the creator. Several diminished these effects with Dark rituals as with the first and there is a noticeable trend of what sanity they had being destroyed at this point. My supposition is that they didn’t have enough soul for these rituals to fully work and thus they backfired, the caster received their power, at the cost of their sanity and often emotional control.

A quick note here, the Dark resurrection ritual including bone of immediate deceased family, flesh of servant given willingly, and blood of enemy forcibly taken is one such ritual. Should Voldemort’s other attempts to return fail he will likely use this ritual in which case he will be _powerful_ but without the _intelligence_ he previously had. He will likely push his most loyal away when they see his insanity and are tortured for their loyalty. 

The third division is either made shortly after the second or not at all. It cannot be performed in the same moon cycle, and ought not be performed for seven moon cycles. Most who do not make a third were driven insane by either of the first two horcruxes or were stopped by desperate defenders recognising a prime opportunity. The period between second and third horcrux is when a creator is most vulnerable, their magic less responsive and their power often close to that of a child. This period is often one of hiding and defensiveness from a Dark Lord or Lady, though it is worth noting the few females who have performed the ritual this far seem to be less effected than their male counterparts. There is a suggestion that longer waits lead to increased power, but it is difficult to ascertain the truth of this.

  
While it would be fair to assume that three is a powerful number in this case four is a number of stability which cancels out a lot of the negative effects of horcrux creation. When they split their soul a third time and leave themselves with only an eighth of their soul they actually _increase_ in power. I have found only one source that seeks to quantify this and they suggest that arithmancy suggests they should be an eighth below the power they _would have had_ as an adult had they not made any horcruxes. I am inclined to agree with this assessment. They also tend to gain a colder, more logical outlook, not quite sanity, but something that fools and the desperate would mistake and likely follow.

  
It should be noted that one horcrux has little effect on an intelligent and powerful witch or wizard. They will lack a small percentage of their adult power, barely noticeable to them if create their horcrux before the age of majority. While comparison between one horcrux and three is impossible I would suggest that one is far preferable as it causes little to no mental or magical instability, and even if a third horcrux recovers much of this loss it cannot do so fully. What it recovers is likely not like it was, tainted and twisted even the magic would not be as magnificent as it had been.

* * *

All of this is likely what Voldemort learned before the creation of his first horcrux, though he likely dismissed warnings of mental instability as coming from overly concerned moralists like Dumbledore, and as such he modified the ritual. Seven is a number of immense magical power, having six horcruxes or seven divisions of his soul would, in theory, magnify his power beyond what he ought to have claim to without any horcruxes. However the issue of decreasing power would have alarmed him, he would not stand to be less powerful than he should be at any given point, and the danger between second and third would be intolerable.

  
To diminish the vulnerability Voldemort created a ritual that was completed in seven instalments over a number of years and would minimised these dangers. His ritual allowed a fluid amount of soul in each horcrux, so his first would still take half his soul but he could recall all but a seventh of his full soul for temporary power increases. Here he made a surprisingly large mistake, he assumed the creation of his second horcrux would abide the same rules but he failed to realise that he would ordinarily possess only a quarter of his soul and would only be able to recall up to five sevenths of his full soul temporarily. Still, this was enough to allow him to use various rituals to further diminish the effects of horcrux creation.

  
His first horcrux was created with the death of a student during the last opening of the Chamber of Secrets, and his second shortly after with the murder of his muggle relations. Here he realised his mistake and held off creating more horcruxes until he could nearly complete the ritual. Over the decade of the 1960’s Voldemort created four horcuxes in quick succession, while learning more about the Dark Arts and building his followers. 

  
Not only had the creation of his sixth horcrux allowed him to recall but a seventh of each horcrux (totalling 87.75% of his total soul) and continue dark rituals it had also possessed a completely unexpected benefit. In a battle of early 1981 one of Voldemort’s horcruxes was destroyed unknowingly by Dumbledore, instead of ceasing to exist as with most horcruxes the soul piece instead returned to the largest fraction of it’s soul, Voldemort himself. This left him desperate to create another horcrux though the backlash of dark magic this creation caused tore him from his body.

  
Voldemort likely believes his attempt to turn myself into a horcrux failed, and as such will create an eighth horcrux if given enough time to do so. His ritual is not designed to support another split in his soul and will slowly destroy him, and all other soul pieces, unless one is destroyed to accommodate his creation of another one. This will also greatly weaken him, though in a less noticeable way. 

  
Thus to revive Voldemort in a manner that leaves him sane the horcruxes created in the depths of insanity must be destroyed, as must the master soul. Two horcruxes were made by Voldemort while sane and as stable as he ever was, one will form the base of the ritual along with part of my own soul (which is compatible due to my status as horcrux) and the other will conclude the ritual.

  
With the first horcrux being brought to physical form that seventh of soul would be required to willingly destroy the infected parts of the same soul. This soul-form must first kill the remainder of the master soul, permanently erasing one seventh of the total soul. Then the absorption of tainted horcruxes might begin with many healing rituals used to reverse the damage of Dark Rituals and bind the soul into one body once more. 

  
With the new master soul destroying horcruxes certain portions of each soul must be permanently destroyed to prevent contamination. Presuming the order of destruction is from most sane to least, allowing for maximum conservation of whole soul, the exact quantity of each soul that cannot be overcome by the force of the new master soul and thus must be eradicated is easily calculated. The first horcrux would now be a sixth of the damaged whole soul, and only a sixth of that would require destruction.

  
Now the whole soul is 83.3 reoccurring of what it used to be and each horcrux holds a _fifth_ of the whole soul, again the destruction of another horcrux would result in a fifth of the soul contained being forfeit. This would leave the whole soul at 80%, each horcrux destruction would follow this pattern. The fourth horcrux destruction would remove a quarter of the horcrux, the fifth would divest a whole third of the horcrux, and the sixth would only absorb a half of the horcrux. 

  
Presuming the new master soul came from the horcrux kept within his teenage diary this would leave a young sixteen year old Tom Marvolo Riddle before he became Lord Voldemort fully. He would be in possession of a fractured and heavily scarred 50% of his original soul, a state that would prevent future use of Dark Arts due to the risk of his soul simply shattering and rendering him something far worse than merely dead. He would also be as sane as he had originally been at sixteen, though perhaps the process would allow him some necessary perspective and force him to revaluate his plans.


End file.
